Father with sudden illness

[Iron]

My Father just started feeling very sick. He was feeling burns in his stomach and some reflux, started making very intense diarrhea and ofr a short moment lost concioussness while on the toilet. He sorta fainted with small spasms in his right arm and rapid blinking. Im at a loss of what may be happening with him. My mother took him to the hospital and I stayed behind to calm my sister when she gets home from work since she is very reactive and impulsive.

Some years ago my father was diagnosed with pre-parkinson disease. He ate aparently nothing out of the ordinary for him, but nothing paleo either.
Any idea of what may be happening?

 

[Iron]

He is in observation now. Bloodwork and Electrocardiogram are being done, waiting for further news.

 

[mcb]

I have had some of those symptoms myself a couple of times about a month apart, although not the spasms or blinking. I ended up on the floor of the restroom at work the second time (the first time I was home, and I made it to my bed without falling down). I also vomited (following the diarrhea) and the backs of my hands turned red from what appeared to be an allergic/histamine reaction. They were bowel movements from hell.

The last place I wanted to go was a hospital, so I just let my body recover both times and I don't really know what happened, other than that it involved acute GI tract inflammation. I became hyper-vigilant about avoiding gluten, and I have not had a recurrence in over a year now.

GI disease -- especially IBD (inflammatory bowel disease) -- can have many effects outside the GI tract, and can affect the brain and hormone levels. Ordinarily, however, IBD has recurring symptoms. I do have those, but they are mild. Both these times I had eaten at a restaurant in the previous couple of days or so, and I think it must have been something I ate that triggered the extreme flares, when it reached my colon. I can't think of anything else.

 

[Foxx]

My Father just started feeling very sick. He was feeling burns in his stomach and some reflux, started making very intense diarrhea and ofr a short moment lost concioussness while on the toilet. He sorta fainted with small spasms in his right arm and rapid blinking. Im at a loss of what may be happening with him. My mother took him to the hospital and I stayed behind to calm my sister when she gets home from work since she is very reactive and impulsive.

Some years ago my father was diagnosed with pre-parkinson disease. He ate aparently nothing out of the ordinary for him, but nothing paleo either.
Any idea of what may be happening?

This isn't my area of expertise, so I'm just making a guess, but it sounds to me like he might have been poisoned by something. Could any of his food have been tainted? Did anyone else eat the same things that he did from the same batch? If so and they didn't get sick, that would probably rule out such a hypothesis. The burning in the stomach also makes me think of eating some kind of poisonous berry or mushroom or something--as in, it could have been a natural poison, if such a hypothesis holds any water.

Just a guess on my part, so take with plenty of salt.

I hope he gets well soon, Iron

 

[nicklebleu]

To faint under these circumstances is actually quite frequent - most likely this was what is called a vasovagal syncope: Straining while on the toilet reduces blood flow to the heart and the circulation collapses. This effect would be further exacerbated with dehydration which also commonly accompanies diarrhoea. Of course it also could have other causes (heart rhythm disturbances, anaemia, serum electrolyte disturbances etc.)

I would wait and see what the hospital doctors come up with and then maybe report back ...

 

[SMM]

My Father just started feeling very sick. He was feeling burns in his stomach and some reflux, started making very intense diarrhea and ofr a short moment lost concioussness while on the toilet. He sorta fainted with small spasms in his right arm and rapid blinking. Im at a loss of what may be happening with him. My mother took him to the hospital and I stayed behind to calm my sister when she gets home from work since she is very reactive and impulsive.

Some years ago my father was diagnosed with pre-parkinson disease. He ate aparently nothing out of the ordinary for him, but nothing paleo either.
Any idea of what may be happening?

What is his diet like? Was anything proposed along with the diagnosis?
My guess is also GI tract inflammation - something having triggered an adverse reaction in his colon - or something related to hormone levels regulation.

Vasovagal syncope as nicklebleu suggested sounds reasonable. See what the doctors say.
Best of wishes.

 

[mcb]

To faint under these circumstances is actually quite frequent - most likely this was what is called a vasovagal syncope: Straining while on the toilet reduces blood flow to the heart and the circulation collapses. This effect would be further exacerbated with dehydration which also commonly accompanies diarrhoea. Of course it also could have other causes (heart rhythm disturbances, anaemia, serum electrolyte disturbances etc.)

I would wait and see what the hospital doctors come up with and then maybe report back ...

My experience is that you don't have to strain -- whatever is going on inside can supply sufficient pressure to do it. I have had that symptom with bowel movements quite a number of times.

After one of my two major episodes that I mentioned above, I Googled around to see what I could find. There are other people out there with similar experiences asking what happened, but I did not find anyone that reported back with an answer, though some had tried and failed to find answers through their doctors. A vasovagal episode seems like a reasonable explanation and, Googling for that, I find that having a bowel movement (not just straining) is reported as a possible trigger -- a name for it is "defecation syncope". Thanks!

 

[Iron]

Thanks everybody for your input and care... I truly appreciate it! The doctors made exams all night long and they found... nothing.
Actualy they barely stoped to listen to our description of what happened. Doctors are very incompetent these days. A girl came in with clear signs of a concussion, including a bleeding head, dizziness... and they sent her home saying that there was nothing wrong.
In reality it was because they did not had enough hospital beds in the emergency room to accomodate her. I digress, but its revolting, a private hospital with this level of lack of care is just ridiculous.

Coming back to the GI inflamation, that makes more sense to me than the heart attack theory, since there were no elevated levels of LDH, I had gone to the hospital and looked for reddish hands, but my father's hands were with normal colouring.
He ate yesterday at 1 pm and started feeling sick around 5 pm. This time course makes sense within the GI inflammation possibility?

 

[mcb]

Thanks everybody for your input and care... I truly appreciate it! The doctors made exams all night long and they found... nothing...

They look for something they can match to an ICD code and bill for. If they don't find anything like that, you don't *want* them trying stuff -- they usually don't have the background, experience, or training. If you have a trusted family physician he can see, that might be different.

Coming back to the GI inflamation, that makes more sense to me than the heart attack theory, since there were no elevated levels of LDH, I had gone to the hospital and looked for reddish hands, but my father's hands were with normal colouring.
He ate yesterday at 1 pm and started feeling sick around 5 pm. This time course makes sense within the GI inflammation possibility?

The histamine reactions that I experienced passed within an hour or less. The only indicator you would have now is if your father happened to remember having "itchy hands."

The simplest explanation I can think of is some form of food poisoning or allergic reaction. As I think I mentioned before, if the reaction occurs in the colon then as much as three days can pass (longer if the person is constipated or eats a poor diet that increases transport time) from ingestion to response. Do you know know what your father ate and where, for three days prior? Does he have any ongoing symptoms of celiac, such as recurring IBD-type issues accompanied by pale stool?

 

[anothermagyar]

[quote author=Iron]Coming back to the GI inflamation, that makes more sense to me than the heart attack theory, since there were no elevated levels of LDH, I had gone to the hospital and looked for reddish hands, but my father's hands were with normal colouring.
He ate yesterday at 1 pm and started feeling sick around 5 pm. This time course makes sense within the GI inflammation possibility?
[/quote]

Sure, it's possible.

I use Activated Charcoal in case I eat something what my body doesn't tolerate well.
You can buy in the US without prescription, I get it in private pharmacy in my neighborhood, vitamin shop or on line:

https://www.google.com/search?q=activated+charcoal&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a#q=activated+charcoal&client=firefox-a&hs=kj7&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&source=univ&tbm=shop&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=l1jlUfD0LM7-4APWyIGgAw&ved=0CDkQsxg&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.48705608,d.dmg&fp=371d35efbe7ab58a&biw=2560&bih=1147

Or you can ask the doc what he thinks about using activated charcoal.
They use it for food poisoning, I used to get it when I was a kid treating intestinal problems, diarrhea, stomach pain.
For me it works.

 

[mabar]

To faint under these circumstances is actually quite frequent - most likely this was what is called a vasovagal syncope: Straining while on the toilet reduces blood flow to the heart and the circulation collapses. This effect would be further exacerbated with dehydration which also commonly accompanies diarrhoea. Of course it also could have other causes (heart rhythm disturbances, anaemia, serum electrolyte disturbances etc.)

I would wait and see what the hospital doctors come up with and then maybe report back ...

I had it like ten years ago, about that time I had anaemia too, and another circunstance that trigger it was, the mix up of emotional repressed feelings and X-mas food, not a good combination. So I was wondering if your father may had had an emotional encounter.

Added: by stressful situations? ... I had it something similar like two months ago a day after my sister's wedding.